Nearly five decades after graduating, Butler alum and former Collegian staff member Stephen Key ’77 is being recognized by the Butler University Alumni Association at Butler’s annual Alumni Recognition Ceremony on Sept. 18 for his impact on the university and the journalism profession.
Among the eight distinct awards for the nine alumni recipients, Key will be honored with the Katharine Merrill Graydon Alumni Service Award. This award recognizes a graduate who has “provided demonstrable service to the University to assist in perpetuating Butler as a great educational and cultural institution.”
Key has continued to give back to Butler through his long-standing service on the College of Communication Dean’s Advisory Board. He also serves on the boards of the Friends of Ernie Pyle and the Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame (IJHF). His involvement with the IJHF helped bring the organization to Butler’s campus, creating another connection between the university and the journalism profession.
For Key, the award represents recognition of the work he has produced throughout his career and his involvement with Butler.
“It’s kind of a validation if you try to do the right thing and you’re trying to make things better, whether it’s at Butler or other boards I’m on,” Key said. “So while I didn’t expect [the award] — I didn’t necessarily think I maybe deserved it — I am very honored and very excited about the event.”
During his time at Butler, Key spent much of his time working for The Butler Collegian, eventually becoming editor-in-chief. He remembers working late nights in the newsroom, surrounded by the smell of the melted wax used to lay out newspaper pages.
“It was the starting point for a career involving journalism,” Key said.
His time at the Collegian eventually carried on to his career, with jobs at newspapers in Illinois and Indiana before he attended law school and began a nearly 30-year career representing newspapers and advocating for press freedoms.
However, for Key, the value of his time at Butler extended beyond launching his career.
“You learn about responsibility, how to work with other people,” Key said. “So Butler was that incubator or first stab at really being an adult.”